If you are stuck on ideas for your rap, you can visit websites online that have lists of song themes to get some ideas. Think about what you want to focus on in your rap. Is it going to be about a place, emotion, time frame, lifestyle, action, event, etc. ? Do you want your rap to have a more upbeat, positive message or do you want to communicate something negative, difficult, or frustrating? When brainstorming for a rap it’s beneficial to think about your audience, or your desired audience. Rap artists Drake and Lecrae are very different in what they rap about and in their audience. Drake raps for a more secular audience while Lecrae’s audience is mostly Christian based. As you construct your rap, you’ll want to make sure you are writing something appropriate for your audience.
Sometimes it’s helpful to keep a pen and paper with you or a notepad app on your phone so that you can write lyrics down throughout the day as they pop into your head. Sometimes artists come up with the best lyrics or inspiration for their songs at the times they are doing something completely different. Writing down these thoughts or ideas as they come to you will make it much easier to brainstorm for more lyrics later on.
The best way to start this is to look up your favorite artists. Your rap style is likely going to reflect theirs in some way, because you obviously like their music, so it can be a great way to get ideas or to understand the inspiration behind their rap. Don’t copy their music, though. Blend their style with yours to create something that is uniquely your own. Sometimes raps don’t say it all, meaning there is more behind the lyrics. Try looking up some commentary on raps, so that you can further understand how artists take lyrics and use them to convey certain emotions or ideas to their audience.
Maybe you want to rap about family, success, a failure you experienced, heartbreak, etc. or you can rap about things that aren’t necessarily personal to you, but you are passionate about like poverty, wealth, abuse, tolerance, etc. Not all raps have to be personalized, but when someone sings or raps a song that is personal to them, often times it is easier to put more into the lyrics, which will help your audience latch onto the rap. Eminem’s song “When I’m Gone” is moving because he raps about his relationship with his daughter.
Weird Al may not be your typical rapper, but he uses other songs and creates a parody in his own music. He took the rap “Ridin” by Chamillionaire and Krayzie Bone and made it into his own rap “White and Nerdy,” which is well known for its creativity and humor.
A beat can also greatly depend on the emotions in a rap you are hoping to communicate. If your rap is about something positive then more of a fast beat may be good, but if your rap is about something difficult or sad, then a slower beat may be more appropriate. Or maybe you are rapping to express your anger or frustration, and so the beat really depends on the direction you are looking to take with your rap.
Lecrae uses the word “boast” in his song “Boasting” to communicate that depending on his self alone is a vain pursuit that leads to nothing. Although he only uses this word once in his hook, it’s what he structures his rap around to communicate that boasting in himself alone is unwise because he’s not guaranteed tomorrow. There is no perfect formula for writing a rap. Do whatever is best for you, whatever helps you get your creative juices flowing. The best hooks are the ones that advance the main idea without being super obvious about it. These hooks use creativity and different vocabulary to promote the main idea, without coming right out and saying it. For example, Jay Z’s song “Hovi Babi” has a hook with lyrics “Can’t touch the untouchable, break the unbreakable. " He is essentially saying to his audience “I am awesome” but using a creative approach that communicates his idea without using those exact words. [4] X Research source
A bar is essentially one line of a verse, which is usually divided up into two lines or two bars. Often times there are three sets of 16 bars and three choruses in a rap. The classic way to structure a rap is around 16 bars. The first 16 bars of your rap should last about a minute, then you have the chorus, then another 16 bars, then the chorus again, maybe a bridge, and then the final chorus.
Macklemore’s song “Downtown” uses imagery such as “chromed out mirror. . . banana seat, a canopy on two wheels. . . " and also uses action words like “cruising through the alley. . . tip-toeing in the street. . . " These lyrics really help create a scene that’s easy to follow.
Some artists can create choruses that don’t even makes sense, but because they are catchy and fun, people enjoy them and continue to listen to them. Your focus should be to create a hook that you would enjoy. In Sugarhill Gang’s song “Rapper’s Delight” the hook goes like this: “I said a hip hop the hippie the hippie/ to the hip hip-hop, and you don’t stop. " It doesn’t really make sense but it’s catchy and fun to sing. Many great hooks are simple but powerful in what they say. Drake’s “Started from the Bottom” features a hook that repeatedly says “Started from the bottom,” but it communicates to his audience that he has come a long way from where he started.
Usually lyrics rhyme after two lines (bars) – the first line rhymes with the second line, the third with the fourth, etc. However, artists often put a break somewhere in the middle of their lyrics, with one line that stands alone and doesn’t have a rhyming counterpart. It may be helpful to use a rhyme dictionary or thesaurus when you get stumped on how to rhyme your lyrics.
Chief Keef and Lil Durk rap the majority of their songs, while Drake and Kanye West are examples of artists that occasionally combine rapping and singing.
